Consequences
by Tmae3114
Summary: Every action has a consequence. Bart knew that better than most people. Everything he did brought the consequences closer to him but, if it meant saving the world, he didn't particularly care.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice. That is all.**

* * *

_A young boy looked carefully over the top of a grey hill covered in rubble and old technology. The compound was just below it, and he could see the building he was targeting clearly. The guards were still patrolling, but he knew that he could make it past them. One glanced up his way and he ducked back behind the hill. After a few seconds he checked again and it was clear. The boy scrambled over the top of the hill and made his way down it, dodging in between the debris quickly and efficiently until he reached a boulder large enough to hide him. He waited there for a few moments, catching his breath, before bolting down the hill again. None of the guards saw him, and he managed to make it to the building.  
'Building' wasn't really the right word for it though. It was a fairly large wooden shack, built quickly and badly. The wooden planks that held it together were rickety and the entire thing looked like it could fall over at any moment. Gently, he pulled a few planks to the side and revealed a small hole in the wall; he then slipped through it.  
He saw the shock on the few people awake inside's faces when he came in, but a single glance towards the figure in the corner changed it to understanding. The boy stepped quietly over to her._

_"I came back," he whispered. He knew he probably shouldn't have, but they'd all been working on the plan together. Now that Dad was...gone, she was all he had. Her head snapped up, and he could tell that she was worried for him._

_"You shouldn't have," she whispered. Her voice was hoarse, but the boy didn't need to ask why._

_"I couldn't just leave you with them," he replied._

_"If you go through with the plan, then I won't be," she said. The boy bit his lip and felt tears stinging his eyes. She opened her arms, and he gratefully accepted the comforting hug.  
"Listen, I know it's hard, but you're the only one who can do this now. It would have been me, or your dad, but we can't now so we need you to do this for us,"  
He nodded. He knew that. He'd known from the moment the plan was first started that he'd be the one going through with it if anything happened to the two adults. He wasn't bothered by it; he was prepared to make the sacrifices needed._

_"I can't...I can't just leave you here Aunt Dawn," he said. She gently pushed him back slightly, holding onto his shoulders and looking him in the eye.  
"It's...I just can't..."_

_"Bartholomew Henry Allen the Second, you _can_ do this. You have heroing in your blood, and you've never hesitated to help others before," she said, reassuringly and sternly.  
"If you do this, you won't be leaving me here. You'll be saving everyone from everywhere like this,"_

_Bart nodded and gave her another hug, holding tightly and not wanting to let go._

_"You can do this Bart. Nathaniel will help you finished the time machine, and then everything will be fixed, okay? I wish we didn't have to ask you to do this..." her voice trailed off._

_"It's okay Aunt Dawn, I know what needs to be done, and I don't mind making the sacrifice if it means everything will be crash," he reassured her; a small tear trekked its way down his cheek._

_"But you shouldn't have to Bart, you're still a child," she told him, returning the hug._

_"Aunt Dawn, you know that I was never a child. This life doesn't exactly give much chance for a childhood," he reminded her. A small, dry, hurting chuckle worked its way out of her._

_"You sound so much like your father when you say that," she said, giving him a sad look.  
"Are you sure you want to do this?"_

_"As sure as I've ever been in my life," he replied.  
"Good bye Aunt Dawn,"_

_"Goodbye Bart," she said. The two separated, and Bart made his way back to the entrance. He slid out and balanced the planks over it again. One last longing look, and then he sped off as fast as he could, hoping he wouldn't be seen this time. _

_He skidded to a halt in the crater of Mount Justice and picked up the remaining parts to the machine. Bart sat down in front of it, and continued working on the wiring. Almost finished, almost done, and then the world would be fixed.  
He didn't care about the sacrifice he had to make.  
Footsteps crunched over the rubble behind him._

_"How's it coming?"_

_"Almost finished," _

_"Wish I could come along," Nathaniel said._

_"Sorry, only seats one," he replied, glancing over his shoulder._

* * *

Contrary to everyone's beliefs, Bart did _not_ enjoy his time in the past. Sure everything was awesome here, and he liked making friends, but he loathed every second he was still here.  
Because every moment, every second, he was still alive, it meant he hadn't succeeded.

It meant the Reach would still win.

It meant Aunt Dawn was still in their clutches.

It meant he hadn't crashed the mode.

He was sitting among the rubble of Mount Justice, looking out over the sea. They'd had another mission the night before and had destroyed what was hopefully the last of the Reach's ships.  
Which meant he'd succeeded, probably.  
Crashing the mode had been his and his family (and Nathaniel)'s goal from day one of the plan. When the Reach had found them, he lost his dad and Aunt Dawn was recaptured. He was the only one left that could complete their mission, and he was okay with that. The consequences would have happened anyways and this way he could enjoy his waning time on Earth in a happy time among friends.  
He'd always known that success wasn't something he was going to enjoy for very long. He'd won, sure. He'd done what he came back to do, crashed the mode. He saved the world, saved humanity, saved his family.

He'd doomed himself.

In crashing the mode he had erased his own timeline - and when one erases their time of origin, one erases themselves; which meant he was now just waiting for the process to begin.

He'd chosen Mount Justice as his, so to speak, final resting place. He chose it because, despite the suffering associated with it, this had been the place that they had escaped to, this was the place they began the plan, this was the place they had built the time machine and this was the last place he saw his father. Over the water, a small glow began.

This was the place he had first seen a sunrise.

* * *

_"Dad? What's that?"_ _Bart asked, tugging on his father's sleeve and pointing out across the grey waters of what was once Happy Harbour Bay. Looking up from the plans in less than a second expecting a Reach attack of some sort, Don Allen caught his breath._

_"Dawn! Get over here!" he whisper-shouted. Proper shouting would attract unwanted attention, keeping it quiet was their best hope. Dawn came over, and followed her brother's pointing. She too caught her breath._

_Over the waters, the smog filling the sky had parted in a way long thought impossible. On the horizon, a small gentle, orange glow was shining. Gradually it grew, revealing a circle of light. The sky revealed in the smog partings danced a bright array of colours and shades. Orange, yellow, pink, sometimes even a small glimpse of blue._

_"What is it?" Bart asked breathlessly, entranced by the beauty of the moment. _

_"A miracle," Dawn whispered in a voice barely audible. Watching the colours dance across the sky as the orange-yellow orb rose sent a surge throughout all three of them. Something that they had as of yet felt only when thinking of changing the past._

_Hope._

_They stood watching, not daring to make a sound in case it might chase the wonder away. The orb grew higher and disappeared behind the smog, which covered the brief glimpse of a blue sky behind it as quickly as it had shown it.  
All breathed slowly, letting out sad sighs as the moment passed._

_"Dad? What _was _that?" Bart asked quietly, the brightness of the colours still dancing across his vision._

_"A sunrise," Don said, kneeling down and pulling his twelve year old son into a hug.  
"Something I never thought I would see again,"  
Dawn knelt down and joined the hug between the two._

_"You've seen one before?" Bart asked, his eyes wide as he imagined seeing it again._

_"We both have," Dawn said quietly.  
"A long time ago,"_

_Bart didn't ask when, he knew that the past was a painful thing for them both, instead his looked at them with wide eyes and asked:  
"Do you think _I'll_ ever see one again?"_

_Don sighed sadly, and brushed the messy hair out of his son's face.  
"Yes," he said firmly.  
"One day, _everyone_ will be able to see sunrises like that,"_

_Bart gave his father a big smile.  
"That would be crash. Do you know when?"_

_Don and Dawn sighed in unison.  
"No, not really Bart, but one day it will be just like it used to be," his father answered._

_"Sunrises could be seen every day, and so could sun_sets_," Dawn whispered. Bart's eyes went even wider and he hugged them both even tighter._

_"I want to see that!"_

* * *

Bart watched the horizon intently, as the glow grew more and now familiar colours danced across the sky. Even after years and months and days of grey, grey sky and nay a chance of seeing the sun again, he had never forgotten his first sunrise. It had filled him with hope and wonder, and did so to this day. Every day since he had come to the past, excepting his time with the Reach, he had come out to Mount Justice or its rubble and waited for the sunrise.

If everything had gone correctly, this would be his last one.

A feeling of nausea overcame him, but he stood firmly. He glanced down at his hands, and saw that the right was beginning to go a golden equal to that of the one dancing across the sky at that very moment. Translucency covered it, and small bubbles of golden colour floated up gently. As he watched, it spread up his arm, turning everything the same translucent gold, shifting in places to orange.

Bart felt a small happiness in knowing that even though this was probably his last moments on Earth, he got to go in the colours of the sunrise.

It spread across his torso and down his other arm and then down his legs. As it covered his head, everything took on the golden orange glow. A muffled shout drew his attention and he turned his head to see Jaime running towards him, a hand outstretched, shouting something he couldn't make out. He smiled slightly and raised a hand in farewell, before turning back to the sunrise and closing his eyes. He let the warmth of the sun rush over him one last time, and then he knew no more.

* * *

**...yes, that did just happen.  
This is what happens when I start thinking about Explorers of Time and Young Justice. Bart gets the same consequences as Grovyle, and the player to some extent. The fact that I had 'Memories of Departure' playing constantly in the background while writing this probably didn't help...**

**So, apart from the fact that Bart just got erased from existance, did you like it?**


End file.
